Week 3 · Build

When the scale lies

Plateaus, bloating and "I've done everything right and nothing's moving". What's really going on, and what to do about it.

Guide 7 of 9Week 36-minute read

Paddy standing in a gym in training kit — **Strength changes your shape.**Often before the scale shows it.

The scale measures everything, not just fat

Your scale weighs water, the food in your gut, salt, stored carbs and muscle, as well as fat. Those can move by 1–2kg from one morning to the next without a gram of fat changing. Fat loss is slow and steady. Everything else is noise on top.

Salty meal or takeawayYour body holds extra water for a day or two.

Your cycleMany women hold 1–2kg of water in the week before their period.

A new or harder workoutSore muscles hold water while they repair.

More carbs than usualStored carbs bring water with them. It's not fat.

Poor sleep or stressBoth can make you hold water for a few days.

Not having been to the looUndigested food has weight too.

Read the weekly average, not the daily number

Here's an example of four weeks of morning weigh-ins. Look at the daily dots: up, down, up again. Day 15 looks like a disaster. Now look at the blue line, the weekly average. It goes down every single week.

Example data. Daily weigh-ins jump around, but the weekly average falls every single week.

How to weigh yourself

Same time each morning, after the loo, before food or drink. Weigh 3–7 mornings a week, add them up, divide by the number of weigh-ins, and compare this week's average with last week's. Ignore any single day.

Losing fat, gaining shape: recomposition

When you start strength training, something else happens. You lose fat and build a little muscle at the same time. Muscle is denser than fat, so you can look slimmer, drop a dress size and lift heavier while the scale barely moves. Clients send me before-and-after photos at exactly the same weight with a visibly different shape.

That's why the scale is only one of four things you track in this kit:

1Weekly average weightThe trend over weeks, never the day.

2MeasurementsWaist, hips and thigh every 2 weeks. A tape measure doesn't hold water.

3PhotosFront, side and back every 4 weeks, same light, same clothes.

4Strength and clothesHeavier weights in your workouts, and how your jeans fit.

Is it really a plateau?

Before changing anything, answer three questions honestly:

Has your weekly average been flat for 3 weeks or more? One or two flat weeks is normal, especially around your period.
Have your measurements stopped moving too? If your waist is still shrinking, you're losing fat. Carry on.
Have the basics slipped? Count honestly: protein at each meal, plate portions, steps and sessions. Small things creep in: the extra glug of oil, the "just a bite" of the kids' tea, the second glass.

If the answer to the first two is yes, it's a real plateau. That's normal too. As you get lighter, your body needs a little less, so the gap you started with has shrunk.

What to change, and what not to

Do one small thingAdd 1,000–2,000 steps a day, or tighten portions back to the plate rule for two weeks, or track everything for one week to find the creep. Pick one, give it two weeks, then check again.

Don't slash foodCutting hard, dropping meals or adding hours of cardio is the fastest way back into the all-or-nothing loop from Guide 1. Small changes work. Big ones backfire.

If you're still stuck after that

That's exactly what your Personal Plan Call is for. Bring your weekly averages and measurements, and we'll work out the next step together.

I have this conversation almost every week: "nothing's moving." Then we look at the weekly average and the tape measure, and it usually is. Trust the trend, not the morning.Paddy

Your action this week

Measure what matters

Work out your weekly average weight for the last two weeks and compare them.
Take your waist, hip and thigh measurements and write them on your tracker.
Take your progress photos: front, side and back.

Up next · Week 4Hunger vs Cravings